


the great heist

by ZinniaRae



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen, mentioned animal abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 17:05:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11212422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZinniaRae/pseuds/ZinniaRae
Summary: Somehow the night began with Damian needing assistance with a 'hostage' situation and ended with the four of them becoming kidnappers...or kitten-nappers.





	the great heist

_"Meet me on the rooftop across from the apartments on Mansfield. It is urgent."_

The text was playing through Dick's mind as he crossed over rooftops toward the destination from the text. What was so urgent that Damian couldn't call him or tell him over their communicators? Was the kid okay? He was worried, to say the least. He hadn't been around as much as he should have been lately, what had Damian gotten himself into this time? 

He came to a stop on the rooftop he had been instructed to, quirking an eyebrow as he looked around. No Damian in sight. Just Tim and Jason staring at him expectantly. "Did you get a text from Damian too?" He asked.

"Saying it was urgent? Yep." Jason said, adjusting his helmet underneath his arm. "Thought the kid was 'bout to die again or something. But he's not even here."

"Is he going through that over-dramatic thing where he swears he needs to prove his dominance as the best Robin by besting all of us?" Tim asked with a tired sigh. "Because I really don't have the time for it."

"Wrong as usual, Drake." Damian's voice startled all three of them. You would think they'd be used to the kid appearing out of nowhere, but Dick swore that sometimes he was worse than his father. After Damian's startling sudden appearance, he noted his current attire. It wasn’t the Robin suit. He was in a pair of black pants, a black long sleeved shirt and the Robin mask across his face.

"Damian, what's going on?" Dick asked, ignoring the glare Tim was shooting at the teenager. "What was so urgent? Are you okay?"

"Why are you dressed like you're going to rob a bank?" Jason asked, which was quite a valid question given the strangeness of this entire evening so far.

"I am fine." Damian assured his brothers, walking over to the edge of the building. His gaze was on an apartment across the street from where they stood. "The urgency is not about me."

"Can we stop with the riddles and get an answer? I have things to do."

"You have nothing to do, Jason. You were the first one here." Tim pointed out.

"Like I said, I thought the kid was 'bout to die again. I’m the _good_ brother this time."

"Enough with the bickering!" Damian turned toward them. "Like I said, the urgency is not for me. There's a hostage situation in that apartment." He said, turning to point toward it. "We must rescue the occupants before the owner of the apartment comes home from work."

Dick blinked a few times, taking in everything that had just been said. "A hostage situation...and the police aren't involved? And the 'hostage taker' left to go to work while keeping a hostage in their place."

"Yes." Was the simple answer he received. "The police do not know about the situation yet. We can get in and out without them knowing and save the occupants."

"And you need our help, why?" Tim asked. "You seem to be pretty well informed about this."

"I'm unaware of exactly how many hostages there are." Damian said, his tone even and simple. "I may need extra hands getting them out quickly enough. Now are we going to stand around and talk or are we going to do our jobs? We have two hours."

The three former Robins looked between one another before their attention moved back to Damian, shrugging. Jason spoke for them, "Why the hell not?"

*******

 

"Richard, are you in place?" Damian asked over the comm link the boys had set up.

"Jason and I are on the stairs." Dick answered, looking over at Jason who currently looked bored out of his mind. Damian had said this would be a 'no weapons' mission and that ruined the second Robin's excitement for it pretty quickly.

"Perfect." Came Damian's quick response. "Drake is almost done with the lock. After that I will need both of you up here to assist with the hostages. I will contact you when it is time. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Jason said into the comm before clicking it off. His grey eyes drifted over to Dick, his expression almost unreadable. "Is this a little bit fishy to you too, Goldie? Or are we just pretending that we buy Damian's story about a hostage situation that only he seems to know about?"

It was fishy, Dick just hadn't voiced that. In his time working with Damian, the kid normally had his heart in a good place -- and normally had good reasons for whatever he did. So, he was giving him the benefit of the doubt here, more than it seemed Jason was doing. "I'm sure it'll all make sense in time."

"Yeah, after we break into somebody's apartment for a 'hostage' situation." Jason scoffed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out of the pack, lit it and took a long drag. "I'm just sayin', it's fishy."

Dick made a face as smoke billowed between the two of them. At this point, he was well aware lecturing Jason over smoking was stupid. He'd just grin and make a crack about dying once already, treating it as a joke but deep down inside there was some real pain there. Some pain that Dick wouldn't touch with an eight foot pole and Jason wouldn't talk about so he let it stay silently between the two of them. "Yeah," He finally agreed. "Let's just entertain the kid's idea, alright Jay?"

"Yeah, alright." He agreed, taking another drag.

Jason wasn't even halfway through his cigarette when Damian's voice came back over their comm links, "It is time." He said, signaling for them to come back upstairs which resulted in a low curse from Jason as he snuffed out the cigarette, stuffing the remainder in the pack for later.

Dick led the way, Jason and him joining Tim and Damian at the top of the stairs and the now open door. "You can pick locks by yourself," Tim grumbled, looking over at the teenager. "Why did you need me to do it?"

"A group effort." Damian said, before pushing him aside. "I'll enter first and find the victims before signaling for the three of you to come assist. Understood?"

"Got it," Dick nodded, watching as Damian entered the apartment.

As soon as it was assumed he was out of earshot, Tim spoke again, "Why do I feel like this is all some ploy and he just wanted someone else to place the blame on?"

"Timmy's probably right." Jason shrugged.

"Like I said, benefit of the doubt." Dick hushed the other two, all the while numerous questions were swirling in his head. Mostly, what in the hell was going on and what had Damian gotten the lot of them into?

About five minutes of silence passed before Damian's masked face was peeking around the corner at them, gesturing to enter the apartment. "Be quiet," He warned as they entered. "They are frightened."

Dick blinked at that before nodding, leading the way as the other two followed behind him into the apartment. "Where are they?" He asked Damian in a quiet whisper, glancing around the living room. There was nothing out of the ordinary -- except for the fact the room was extremely messy. Not hoarder messy...but close enough. Enough that Dick even wrinkled his nose a bit.

"Bedroom," Damian said matter-of-factually as he led the group that way. Dick heard Jason whisper to Tim behind him, questioning if this was some sex thing the kid had gotten confused about, resulting in Dick simultaneously stopping himself from giggling and turning to glare at Jason for the comment. Damian stopped the group at the doorway to the bedroom, giving a slow nod. "Slow and quiet. We do not want to frighten them more than they are already frightened." He said and the others nodded.

He entered the bedroom and as Dick followed behind him, he blinked. There was nobody in there. Either the hostages had already escaped -- unlikely -- or Damian had led them on a wild goose chase. He was beginning to think it was the latter, until there was a noise from the other side of the bed. It wasn't a cry or a whimper it was a --

"Okay kid, what in the hell is going on?" Jason asked, his tone clearly expressing his annoyance. "This is a really stupid joke. I had things to do tonight."

"You had nothing to do tonight, Jason." Tim interrupted before looking toward Damian. "But what is going on?"

"Quiet!" Dick stopped them from ganging up on the pre-teen, stepping past Damian and following the noise he had heard from the other side of the bed. He reached the foot, peering by the side and let out a sigh, covering his face with his palm. "Damian, this certainly isn't a hostage situation."

"What are you even talking abou - " Jason had followed him, now standing behind him and peering over Dick's shoulder. "Cats." He said blankly. "You had us break into someone's apartment because they had pet cats? Hate to break it to you kid, it's not a hostage situation. People can have pets."

"Wait." Tim shook his head. "That cat looks awfully skinny."

Sure enough, there was a tiny cat, curled in the corner with numerous kittens who looked like they had just opened their eyes. Like Tim had said, the mother cat's fur was patchy and her ribs were visible beneath the dark gray fur. She had sores all over her body, ones that reminded Dick of BB pellets which made him sick to his stomach. The cat looked up, looked frightened of the group of boys standing there, staring at her.

"...She's been abused." Tim said, turning to look at Damian who was standing by the door, a sad look on his face as he nodded.

"I saw her on patrol last night. She walked up to me and let me pet her, I could tell somebody was abusing her. Cats don't just look like that so I followed her home."

"Why didn't you tell us in the first place instead of creating some story about a hostage situation?" Dick asked, stepping away from the bed and toward Damian.

"Because I knew it was not as important to the three of you as it was me." There was a defeat in his voice, one that broke the heart of his three older brothers.

Dick felt his heart fall at that. Damian thought what was important to him wasn't important to them. And maybe a litter of kittens and an abused mother cat was just a little bit under the Joker threatening to bomb the center of Gotham but...but it was still important. It was still an injustice. He walked over, wrapping his arms around the current Robin who didn't even try to fight it (that time), gave him a quick squeeze before pulling away. "Damian, you know you can tell us anything. We're your brothers."

Thankfully, Dick wasn't the only one who seemed to pick up on Damian's current heartbreak. "He's right," Tim spoke up. Dick knew the two of them had their differences, more like brothers than any of them, but he appreciated Tim stepping up. "If this is important to you, it's important to us. Besides, this is an injustice and we fight against injustice, right?"

"I agree with what those two said but can't we save the heart-to-heart?" Jason spoke up. "Because the owner will be home soon and we still need to figure out how the hell we're getting these cats out of here -- and where they're going." He had left the foot of the bed, walked closer to where the mother cat was huddled with her kittens.

"Todd! Be careful," Damian pushed away from Dick, moving closer to where Jason was now squatting in front of the animals. "They're scared."

"I'm not going to hurt them." Jason shot back, carefully reaching out a hand. Almost automatically, a kitten that was more black than gray picked up it's little head, sent Jason a curious look before moving an inch closer, just enough where he could gently pet it. "See, this one likes me."

"It's a miracle, something likes you." Tim smirked before turning his attention to more serious matters. "Jason's right. We need to figure out how we're getting them out of here and soon. There's more of them than there are of us and just flying through the city with kittens seems like a potential problem."

They looked between each other, surely one of them could figure it out. That was when Dick smiled, reaching into his utility belt for his phone. "Got it." He said. "Damian, what's the address of this place?"

"You're seriously not going to call an Uber, are you?" Jason scoffed, still gently petting the kitten who seemed to be warming up to him rather quickly.

Ignoring Jason, Damian cited off the address before Dick dialed a number, waited for an answer, "Hey. We need a lift. None of us are hurt or anything, yeah, we're all together. We just need you to pick us up at the address I just texted you as soon as possible. Thank you." He clicked off the phone, shoved it back in his utility belt. "We have a ride and then we can figure out what to do with these babies. For now, let's get them downstairs." He suggested.

*******

 

It wasn't the first time in his life Dick had thought 'thank God for Alfred'. He was at the address promptly, didn't ask a single question as all four boys loaded into the car holding kittens, just reminded them to watch the claws on the upholstery, please. Now there just came the real question -- what were they going to do with four little kittens and a mother cat? Jason had suggested a rescue but Damian was insistent that the animals stay together if possible. The older three had stripped from their costumes and into more comfortable clothes as they lounged in the living room, the kittens carefully warming up to the people who seemed much nicer than their previous owners. Alfred the Cat wasn't quite sure what to think of the arrivals and was staying to himself, while Titus just looked on curiously.

"Made a decision yet?" Tim asked, looking up from his tablet. He was reading or researching or doing something that Dick was unsure of. For all he knew, he was hacking into the FBI database. He just knew the kid didn't know how to relax. However, while he had been doing Tim things, one of the kittens had crawled over and laid by his thigh. It was gray and black, like the mother cat, but the white was speckled on the cat sporadically. Tim was calmly petting it while he read.

"They cannot be separated." Damian said, for what had to be the tenth time. The mother cat was in his lap along with an identical kitten, the runt, one he stroked carefully. She was obviously more comfortable around Damian, who had been her savior. It made sense.

"Yeah, we got that, runt." Jason said, leaning back against the front of the couch. Sitting contently in his lap was the almost-black kitten he had first reached out to and Big Bad Red Hood didn't seem to mind that at all. "But I'm pretty sure B isn't gonna let them all stay here. So you need to make a decision."

Positioned by Dick's feet was the last of the kittens, one that was more white than gray. It seemed content not to let him touch it after he had put it carefully on the floor when they arrived at the manor and Dick wasn't pushing his luck. He looked between his brothers, each with a kitten before speaking up. "What if we all kept one? They'd be separated -- but we could check in on them. They could still see each other.”

"I don't have time to care for a cat." Tim said without looking up from his tablet.

"Neither do I. I have things to do." Jason added.

"-tt-. You have nothing to do, Todd. Cats are easy to care for, they are very independent animals." Damian said, humming over Dick's idea. "I think that may work, Richard. They'd be kept within the family." Jade eyes turned toward Tim and Jason, slightly begging for them to give in.

Jason caved first. He carefully scooped up the kitten, turned it so they were eye-to-eye. "What do you say, Bennet? Should I keep you?" He asked.

"You already named it?" Tim glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were against the idea."

"I work fast." Jason shrugged and Tim made a face at the possible innuendo before Jason continued. "Besides, I'm warming up to the idea."

Dick looked down at the kitten that was practically avoiding him and shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not sure how well I'd do as an owner but I'd be willing to keep him." He had been thinking about getting a pet and even if he did feel much more like a dog person, this was for Damian. He slowly bent forward, reaching a cautious finger out to pet the kitten. It stilled slightly and Dick pulled his hand away, watching as green eyes turned to look at him. Deciding to press his luck, he reached to pet it again. The kitten stayed where it was, laid it's head back down on the carpet and seemed content. Not so bad.

Three sets of eyes turned to Tim who was the only person who hadn't made a decision yet. Dick was almost certain if Damian was the type (and thought Tim would break), he'd be giving him puppy dog eyes. Instead it was just a stare that was almost frightening. Sighing, Tim placed his tablet on the floor beside him, reaching down and scooped the kitten up, letting it sit on his open palms. His crystal eyes studied it for a moment and if he said 'no', Dick had a feeling Damian would hit him.

"Fine," He said with a sigh. "I'll keep the kitten."

Damian smiled, one of those rare smiles that came from the current Robin. "Perfect. We have done good tonight. We saved these poor creatures and now they will all have a good home without being abused."

"Yeah, I think we did pretty good." Dick agreed with a nod.

"Most brothers bond by playing video games or going to the movies or playing sports, not kidnapping kittens." Jason pointed out, still holding onto Bennet as one hand scratched the back of his head.

"We're not most brothers." Tim said. He was still holding his kitten, still looking at it carefully before a smile broke out over his face. "I think I'll name her Glitch."

"Glitch? -tt- That is no name for a kitten, Drake."

"Yeah? What are you naming your two?" Tim shot back.

"The kitten will be named Emir." Damian decided, tilting his head as he looked at the mother cat, curled up with Emir. "Her name is Fahime."

"Emir and Fahime? Those sound like names for children, not cats."

"Better than Glitch."

Jason elbowed Dick in the ribs as the other two argued over names, casually rolling his eyes. "Children." He remarked, as if on most days he wouldn't be arguing with one of them. "What about you, Dickie? What're you naming yours?"

Dick thought over it for a minute, studied the kitten before deciding, "Stormy." 

Snorting, Jason looked toward Damian and Tim who were still arguing back and forth. "Don't let Damian find out. He'll lecture you about how Stormy is a terrible, stereotypical name."

"Uh-huh. Is that what Damian would say or is that your opinion?" Dick asked, only getting a little smirk from Jason who had interjected himself into the argument between the other two. Sitting back with Stormy by his feet, Dick only watched the three of them. Clearly, they didn't get along often. But they were ultimately brothers. And one day, they'd tell their children and grandchildren about The Great Heist.

Providing Bruce didn't kill them for stealing kittens first.


End file.
